Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century Thimbles from the Town on the Plateau of Eski-Kermen

Abstract

This article publishes the thimbles of bone, horn, and bronze alloys excavated on the plateau of Eski-Kermen in the quarters that perished in a fire from the late thirteenth century, and in the graves of the fourteenth-century cemetery located in front of the main basilica. According to the material and form, there are reasons to divide the finds into five types. Judging by the finds from the quarters, the thirteenth-century residents of the town on the Eski-Kermen plateau used bone or horn thimbles of type 1, as well as bronze plate or cast thimbles of types 2–1, 2–2 and 3. Bone thimbles were probably produced by local artisans, and bronze products were most likely imported from Cherson, which established close economic ties with the inhabitants of the town on the Eski-Kermen plateau. In the fourteenth century, there appeared brass-stamped closed thimbles of small diameter, with a hemispherical upper part, of types 4 and 5, which could be worn only on the finger-tip. Similar thimbles were found in the prince’s palace in Mangup and in the castle of Chembalo. Perhaps the residents of the “cave towns” obtained these goods from the trade with the Genoese. The presence of thimbles in dwelling houses makes a clear illustration of the written accounts that needlework was among the main occupations of Byzantine women. It is known that the landladies, along with textile manufacture, often had to sew and repair clothes. In the fourteenth century, the residents of the town on the Eski-Kermen plateau often buried dead women accompanied with thimbles used during their lifetime. Apparently, the thimble was not only necessary in a woman’s daily life, but also had a certain symbolic meaning.